Arsenal thread | 2025/26

[TonyColemansbagofapples]

Not likely to get one from the bottler (Oliver).

 

[bennyboy]

I'll be honest I don't like the football under Arteta in recent seasons. I loved Wengerball, which was achieved on a shoestring budget as we had a net spend of zero for about a decade. But I do like winning under Arteta though and don't miss the 8-2, 6-0 losses in 12/13 and I think we lost 5-2 against yourselves although I'm unsure of the scoreline. It's just a pity Wenger never got the backing Arteta has got as he would of produced some even more exciting teams.

I do think Arteta has done great job though. Especially defensively and his ability to instill a workrate in the players. His ability to coach the attack is questionable though

It's also worth noting, we haven't had world class attacking talent like KDB, Salah or maestros like Gundingon or Silva or Rodri.

Also saying we rely on 'relies on every underhanded trick in the book to win penalties, free-kicks and corners etc' is just cope. We win corners and freekicks because we get fouled or the ball goes out of play. And we don't get as many pens as we should get. I'd guess City probably get as many set pieces as we do, it's just we have guys who are elite headers of the ball.

House.
Was waiting on shoe string budget for my Arsenal bingo.

 

[Vienna_70]

I'll be honest I don't like the football under Arteta in recent seasons. I loved Wengerball, which was achieved on a shoestring budget as we had a net spend of zero for about a decade. But I do like winning under Arteta though and don't miss the 8-2, 6-0 losses in 12/13 and I think we lost 5-2 against yourselves although I'm unsure of the scoreline. It's just a pity Wenger never got the backing Arteta has got as he would of produced some even more exciting teams.

I do think Arteta has done great job though. Especially defensively and his ability to instill a workrate in the players. His ability to coach the attack is questionable though

It's also worth noting, we haven't had world class attacking talent like KDB, Salah or maestros like Gundingon or Silva or Rodri.

Also saying we rely on 'relies on every underhanded trick in the book to win penalties, free-kicks and corners etc' is just cope. We win corners and freekicks because we get fouled or the ball goes out of play. And we don't get as many pens as we should get. I'd guess City probably get as many set pieces as we do, it's just we have guys who are elite headers of the ball.

The 2-8 defeat was in 11/12 season.

 

[AFCAndy]

The 2-8 defeat was in 11/12 season.

You're right, the defeats all blur into one another, that and having a memory like a sieve

 

[give it to gordon]

Football nowadays is all about winning at all costs. It's not about entertainment the paying public.
Arsenal always have had this boring side to them ' one nil to the ars-en-nil ' ' boring boring ars-en-al ' its something gooners have always been happy with.
They still bang on about going unbeaten yet in reality it was fucking boring with 12 draws. Wasn't this under a manage who was taking back handers ?

At City we have watch for the last decade nearly teams parking the bus week in week out. I find it fucking boring. Gooners are happy to pay to watch their team and wait for a corner. All the gooners and to be honest most fans are interested in is the 3 points, which is fair enough.

I think alot of us FOC want an entertaining match to watch more then the result. I only watch City games now as I find alot of games boring, I'm not keen on the library atmosphere at most places grounds

If ars-en-nil win the league playing the way they do fair do's. No one will be talking about the style of play.

For me alot of games are to expansive, shit atmosphere, to boring, the play acting, time wasting, poor refs, shit var. Perhaps its my age

The politics in football, the letter writing, interest free loans, the tapping up of managers at midnight ! All good honest behaviour of ars-en-nil

 

[Vienna_70]

You're right, the defeats all blur into one another, that and having a memory like a sieve

We beat Spurs 5-2 at Shite Hart Lane on the same afternoon.

It was at the start of our title-winning season under Bobby, and we were playing some fantastic, breathtaking football.

 

[Andy TheCatalyst Morrison]

We beat Spurs 5-2 at Shite Hart Lane on the same afternoon.

It was at the start of our title-winning season under Bobby, and we were playing some fantastic, breathtaking football.

5-1 I believe?

 

[mancboy]

Football nowadays is all about winning at all costs. It's not about entertainment the paying public.
Arsenal always have had this boring side to them ' one nil to the ars-en-nil ' ' boring boring ars-en-al ' its something gooners have always been happy with.
They still bang on about going unbeaten yet in reality it was fucking boring with 12 draws. Wasn't this under a manage who was taking back handers ?

At City we have watch for the last decade nearly teams parking the bus week in week out. I find it fucking boring. Gooners are happy to pay to watch their team and wait for a corner. All the gooners and to be honest most fans are interested in is the 3 points, which is fair enough.

I think alot of us FOC want an entertaining match to watch more then the result. I only watch City games now as I find alot of games boring, I'm not keen on the library atmosphere at most places grounds

If ars-en-nil win the league playing the way they do fair do's. No one will be talking about the style of play.

For me alot of games are to expansive, shit atmosphere, to boring, the play acting, time wasting, poor refs, shit var. Perhaps its my age

The politics in football, the letter writing, interest free loans, the tapping up of managers at midnight ! All good honest behaviour of ars-en-nil

If arsenal win the league playing in the manner that they do it will be a win for arsenal but a loss for football

 

[Vienna_70]

5-1 I believe?

That’s what I meant to put.

Doh!

 

[KentBlue]

I think alot of us FOC want an entertaining match to watch more then the result. I only watch City games now as I find alot of games boring, I'm not keen on the library atmosphere at most places grounds

We're on the same wavelength here, mate. I could not and I will not pay good money to watch a team like Arsenal destroy the game I have loved all my life by sucking all the entertainment and the skill out of the game.
We were talking with a long-time Gooner recently who was trying valiantly to defend Arteta's style, he said something about England under Gareth Southgate being boring, and I agreed with him that the football was bloody awful, probably the worst I can remember the national team playing, but there was no dark arts as such from Southgate: no pretend injuries, time-wasting, no snidey off-the-ball kicks and punches etc, just dull, monotonous, sideways-passing, uninspiring drivel. What Arsenal have done is copy Southgate's tactics and added some of the most underhanded and treacherous tactics to the world of dark arts that I personally have ever seen in the game.

As MancBoy said, Arsenal winning the league will be a loss for football - I'd add it would be a monumental loss not just to football but to sport in general.

 

[give it to gordon]

We're on the same wavelength here, mate. I could not and I will not pay good money to watch a team like Arsenal destroy the game I have loved all my life by sucking all the entertainment and the skill out of the game.
We were talking with a long-time Gooner recently who was trying valiantly to defend Arteta's style, he said something about England under Gareth Southgate being boring, and I agreed with him that the football was bloody awful, probably the worst I can remember the national team playing, but there was no dark arts as such from Southgate: no pretend injuries, time-wasting, no snidey off-the-ball kicks and punches etc, just dull, monotonous, sideways-passing, uninspiring drivel. What Arsenal have done is copy Southgate's tactics and added some of the most underhanded and treacherous tactics to the world of dark arts that I personally have ever seen in the game.

As MancBoy said, Arsenal winning the league will be a loss for football - I'd add it would be a monumental loss not just to football but to sport in general.

With the investment restrictions in the pl and more and more teams playing this non football, played in silence, i can see the worldwide attraction of the pl falling

 

[GunnerGer]

I'm obviously biased, but I think the way out game is spoken about at times is overblown.

Listen, we aren't as swashbuckling as the prime City teams or the the prime Klopp teams, that much is clear, Arteta is a bit more cautious defensively, I think that's obvious.

But we still play high possession, high press, front forward football in the main. We aren't sitting back in low blocks, low possession and just trying to counter.

The reason people were wrongly calling the Pep tippy tappy football boring was the control that Pep instilled, meaning that a lot of the games there was little to no jeopardy in. Neutrals don't like that. The off the ball work of the peak Pep and Barca teams was just as impressive as the on the ball work.

I watched Liverpool vs Villa last night, and up until Liverpool scored it was quite exciting. It wasn't high quality though, as Liverpool were feeding off Villa's mistakes, and then the occasions Villa were able to beat Liverpool's press the could run right through Liverpool's midfield. Great for us neutrals, but poor tactically from both teams.

I don't even think we are at our peak offensively. We built our attack around Odegaard and he hasn't been available most of the season, we don't have any alternative strikers to Gyokeres as Havertz and Jesus have missed all season, and I think we've hardly had Madueke and Saka fit at the same time either.

 

[Gray]

It’s theirs to lose.

 

[AFCAndy]

We beat Spurs 5-2 at Shite Hart Lane on the same afternoon.

It was at the start of our title-winning season under Bobby, and we were playing some fantastic, breathtaking football.

Which did you enjoy watching the most, the Yaya/Silva/Arguero side or the modern Pep sides? And I realise there's been a fair few Pep sides over the years. Personally I found football more enjoyable when there was more time and space before it became systematic.

 

[AFCAndy]

As MancBoy said, Arsenal winning the league will be a loss for football - I'd add it would be a monumental loss not just to football but to sport in general.

You realise everyone, including yourselves has parked the bus against us this season. If the teams didn't play low blocks, the games would be far more entertaining.

I do think our attack could be coached better in transitions. But we don't have the talent you had against low blocks like KDB, Silva and Gundogon.

 

[Andy TheCatalyst Morrison]

Which did you enjoy watching the most, the Yaya/Silva/Arguero side or the modern Pep sides? And I realise there's been a fair few Pep sides over the years. Personally I found football more enjoyable when there was more time and space before it became systematic.

What a refreshing change to have Bournemouth come and play football today. If only more games were like that (win, lose or draw)

 

[Vienna_70]

Which did you enjoy watching the most, the Yaya/Silva/Arguero side or the modern Pep sides? And I realise there's been a fair few Pep sides over the years. Personally I found football more enjoyable when there was more time and space before it became systematic.

Hard to choose, but I’d say the Pep side that had a front five of Sterling, de Bruyne, Agüero, D Silva and Sané, with Fernandinho as our pivot.

It was a team full of power, pace and subtlety (mainly courtesy of Merlin), and was very good defensively too.

 

[HowleyBlue]

 

[malg]

5-1 I believe?

Yup. @Vienna_70 outed as a Rag......good work Andy.

 

[malg]

Fair play to them for showing everyone that set pieces should be taken more seriously. No issues with how they're winning games.